The Breakfast Sandwich and Burrito Bulk - Jackolee

Training Training Logs
1041

@jackolee @mortdk @Frank_C

My summer schedule is going to necessitate switching to AM workouts. Not my preference (late-afternoon workouts are optimal, IMO), but gotta work with the realities of life! I’d love to hear what you think of my plan for staying fueled, at least for the first week or two (will adjust based on early results). As a reminder, I’m 6’2”, 175, and roughly 11-12% BF, with a goal of dropping 4% in 8 weeks. Maintenance is around 2300.

Totals (left a little bit of a range as some days will require fluctuation): 1800-1900 calories; 180-190 protein, 180-220 carbs, 35-45 fat

Sample Day

First meal (preworkout, 7:30) — 1 cup cream of rice, 1 scoop whey, 1 serving Lily’s dark chocolate chips (so good, try them), 4 oz almond milk in coffee — 336 cals, 31 P, 45 C, 5 F

Second meal (postworkout, 10) — 6 oz chicken breast and one cup Minute Jasmine rice, 10g creatine and 16g dextrose — 465 cals, 38 P, 62 C, 8 F

Third meal (1:30) — 2 chocolate rice cakes with .5 cup fat-free cottage cheese — 200 cals, 16 P, 30 C, 2 F

Fourth meal (dinner, 5:30) — 8 oz ground turkey, 1 sweet potato, 2 cups mixed greens, 2 tbsp sugar-free raspberry vinaigrette — 545 cals, 56 P, 50 C, 14 F (will be adjusting this meal to fit macros based on wifey’s dinner plans; cooking is a big deal to her)

Fifth meal (pre-bed) — Shake with 1 scoop whey, 2/3 banana, 3 tbsp PB Fit, 8 oz almond milk, ice — 275 cals, 38 P, 27 C, 5 F

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1042

Why do these two have to be mutually exclusive?

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1043

To be fair I do enjoy obsessing over things lol

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1044

Man that looks rock solid. Before you consider decreasing calories when you plateau you might be able to keep the calories the same by shifting carbs to protein. That would be a pretty cool experiment actually!

1045

That looks pretty good but I’d try to increase the protein for your 1:30 meal. You’ll get around 60 grams around your workout time which is solid, but then you’re only planning to ingest about 16 grams from 10:30 til 5:30.

I have a little bit of an analytical (or OCD) brain and I like things to be even (at least on paper). If you’re eating five times a day and consuming 180-190 grams of protein then I’d try to break that up evenly and get 35-40 grams at each meal/snack.

But I’m just nit picking. Everything looks great on paper but real life has a way of messing it up so just do the best you can. I would struggle to get from 10:30am to 5:30 pm with only 200 calories eaten around 1-2pm. I can do that if I’m busy at work but not every day.

Your plan looks like a solid approach. It would be kind of neat to see an experiment by messing with carb/protein ratios but I’m not sure if a challenge is the time to do that… unless you’re not competitive. And we all know you wouldn’t be in the challenge if you weren’t competitive.

@jackolee, what kind of split were you thinking? Maybe I’ll try something. But that would mean I have to watch my macros more closely. I just kind of build my meals around protein and let the fat and carbs fall where they may.

I just checked My Fitness Pal and I’ve been averaging 220-250 grams of carbs per day over the past couple months. My protein has been 180-220 grams per day.

Think I should switch to 250g protein and 200g carbs? Carbs are so good!

1046

Thanks for the feedback.

That’s exactly the part I’m hung up on! The issue is that my wife really cares about dinner (cooking is practically her love language), so I don’t want to be a grinch – want to save some cals/protein for that. Think I should just get rid of the pre-bed shake and move those cals up to the third meal?

1047

This is going to be largely dependent on how you feel - hunger levels and energy in the morning for your workout. You’ll learn as you go since this is going to be a new routine for you. If dinner is going to be big enough to hold you over til breakfast then I’d definitely move the pre-bed cals to the 1:30 meal.

The only reason I’d keep the last meal is if I felt like trash in the morning. My wife loads up on carbs before bed to fuel her long ass morning runs. I don’t do that for lifting, but everyone is different. If the evening food gives you better training sessions in the morning then you’ll want to keep them (see, more trial and error).

You can always keep your pre-bed protein shake but just mix it with water and keep it at 120ish calories of basically all protein.

Do you plan to buy any casein protein? It’s a bit more expensive but it’s thicker and slower digesting - supposedly that’s better for bed time. If it’s not a big deal to buy some then I’d do that. It’ll last you almost two months if you get the 4-5 lb tub. I have some Optimum Nutrition casein and it’s 120 calories per scoop. That’s all I’d take before bed if you need it.

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1048

I believe he was gonna do 40% protein, 35% carbs and 25% fat. My thought would be to ride that about at 1800-1900 calories until progress slows and then keep calories the same and do a 50% 30% 20% and see if it jumpstarts weight loss without reducing overall calories.

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1049

Do you just look at percentages or total protein? I know you were on a super high protein diet during your prep but I wasn’t sure if that was solely based on the total amount of protein or if it was percentage based.

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1050

For him I was just looking at percentage. For my cut I just did what my coach said. At one point I had to put my foot down. I was at 325 grams of protein and he added in another 50 grams. I said no. I think right at the end I was 325 grams protein, 75 grams carbs, 25-30 fat

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1051

That is a bit of nitpicking, I think you’re quite well prepared I do not think you’ll be able to tell much of a difference by your plan.
If you really want to, take out 5 P from pre bed and dinner, your wife wont notice.
then you’re at 26 p at the 1:30 meal.
But as said I don’t think it matters that much.
And casein for pre bed is supposed to be the best, I would keep the pre bed meal. Some article here on TN said that protein during the night is important to keep muscles.

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1052

And going to bed with a full belly feels goooood!

1053

Thanks for the insight, man.

This is next-level – I really haven’t thought before about how my PM food choices/timing will affect my AM energy. But now that I’m shifting to AM workouts, I will definitely be examining that closely. I worry that the first meal won’t give me enough fuel/juice to really “crush” my workouts, which I feel equipped to do in the PM with a couple meals in my stomach.

I’ve heard this as well. Just ordered a 2 lb jug of the ON Casein (the natural kind, 140 cals) to try it out. That’ll be my go-to for pre-bed. I think I’ll probably just mix one scoop with water, like you said, and move the remaining 135 cals up to that third meal – maybe a whey shake, some tuna, or another small chicken breast? Any other recommendations for a low-cal but satiating protein source?

1054

This is an intriguing thought I’ve never considered before. I think I’ll try this out if/when fat loss stalls. It’s gotta be really tough, though, to eat 50% protein – I imagine it requires a lot of planning and creativity.

1055

Been trying it and, yeah it is. You either need to bust out your grill every other day or buy 50 tubs of protein powder. If I get above 40% protein on any day while staying within total calories I consider it a win. But Jack proves it can be done…

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1056

All things considered, I think it’s absolutely a win if you hit calories and get above 40%. Though 50% is like a gold standard achievement

1057

I was thinking one way to add volume to that first meal may be to turn my morning coffee into a coffee whey shake instead. So instead of mixing the whey in the cream of rice (which will still have dark chocolate chips), I have it blended with coffee, stevia, ice, almond milk, maybe a little bit of unsweetened cocoa baking powder. Could just make me feel a little more full heading into my lift.

1058

Do you track water? I consume a lot but have never tracked before - thinking I will start for this cut. Was thinking about shooting for 175 oz per day on training days and 130 oz per day on rest days.

1059

I really like fat free cottage cheese and strawberries. That might fit the bill

1060

Hahaha! Gold standard achievement…

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